Rural Medical Education Australia (RMEA) (Rural Med Ed), formerly known as Queensland Rural Medical Education (QRME) began in 2002 when a group of rural doctors formed an organisation with a vision to ‘train to retain' doctors in Rural Queensland. The initial training was directed at General Practitioners but grew to include medical students and junior doctors.

In 2010 RMEA entered into a partnership with Griffith University which represented the successful collaboration of a large, established and well-resourced university with a flexible, responsive, not-for-profit community based organisation that is accutely attuned to the changing needs of the rural communities it serves.